This blog has the title of my 4th book; the first in the 'Sofia Trilogy'. Other books are 'Time & Tide', 'No Regrets', 'Stay in Touch', and the second and third of the 'Sofia Trilogy', Sofia's Legacy' and 'Love You Forever'.

Friday, 7 October 2016

October!

Just popping down memory lane to last year and the Tea Dance in Blackpool!

Hello Everyone,

Where would we be without memories? As the end of each year approaches I tend to wander down memory lane and am horrified when I realise that events that happened maybe twenty years ago seem like they occurred only yesterday. Yes, I know I'm getting old!

October! An interesting month, particularly the origin. 'Octo' meaning 8, it was originally the eighth month of the year with November (Nov) nine and December (Dec) ten. In 46 BC, Roman times, the New Year started in March. Julius Caesar, as Emperor of Rome, reorganised the calendar and made it start in January. He kept the old names apart from the seventh month which he named July after himself. The calendar became known as the Julian calendar. When Augustus was Emperor, he felt that he was as important as Julius and named August after himself.

Later, on 4th October 1582 Pope Gregory introduced the Gregorian calendar. He realised that the Julian calendar worked on the theory that a year lasted for 365 days and 6 hours, thus Julius Caesar had introduced a leap year every four years. In reality, a year was only 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 46 seconds. As a result of this miscalculation, the world was more than a week out of place, so to correct it, in 1582 the day after October 4th was October 15th! Well, you have heard the saying, 'every second counts'!

Some other events in October throughout the years:

1853 The Crimean War began.

1889 The Moulin Rouge opened in Paris.

1536 William Tyndale, the man who wrote the English Bible, was executed.

1769 Captain Cook discovered New Zealand.

1085 St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice was consecrated.

1899 The Boer War began.

1915 Edith Cavell was executed by a firing squad.

1492 Columbus saw his first land in discovering the New World; he called it San Salvador.

1822 Brazil gained independence from Portugal.

1775 The US navy was founded.

1792 President Washington lay the foundation cornerstone of the White House.